Masked
by Ratatosks
Summary: All his life, Kano has struggled with suppressing his snake's evil intentions. Kuroha wants the Mekakushi Dan to truly suffer at the end of this timeline, and he knows all he has to do is coax Kano a bit. After all, what better way to end this tragedy than by being killed by the boy they had always known and loved?
1. Chapter 1

**There was a lot of speculation about Kano being evil because of the parallels between "love and ego" in both Yobanashi Deceive and Outer Science. Kuroha and Kano are my two favorite KagePro characters, and this idea of evil Kano has been playing in the back of my mind for a while. I hope I did these two boys justice, because their personalities are so intense and fascinating I wanted to get them perfect.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kagerou Project. I wish I was as smart as Jin to come up with as great of a story as his.**

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><p>"You know, you were always my favorite, Deceiver," Kuroha murmured. Kano laid at his feet, motionless, as snakes slowly twisted around his body. They hissed and flicked their tongues between their teeth as if they were enjoying watching the boy suffer.<p>

"No response?" Kuroha let out a cold, amused laugh. "You might as well drop the act. Your idiotic little friends might fall for your tricks, but I can see right through you."

Again, silence.

He let out an exasperated sigh as if he was thoroughly disappointed. "I thought you were interesting. Come on, I just want to have a little fun! You make so many witty comments with your little gang, but you can't think of anything for me?"

Kuroha's piercing yellow eyes drilled into Kano, taunting him, mocking him. Kano knew he was at the snake's total mercy; Kuroha wanted him to feel anguished, humiliated, and most of all, fearful.

Straining to keep his voice from breaking, the blonde choked out, "What do you want from me?"

"Why do all you captives ask the same boring questions? It's always what do you want? Why did you take me here? Where am I?" Kuroha turned around to face Kano, a maniacal grin spread across his face. "Humans really are hysterical sometimes!"

"If you think I want to hold a conversation with the likes of you, then you're the hysterical one."

The black-haired boy acted as if he didn't even hear Kano in the first place. He paced back and forth, cheerily humming as he twirled his gun around in his hand. His footsteps eerily echoed in the otherwise silent room. "...Tell me about that monster inside of you."

Kano fell quiet once more and adverted his gaze to the ground. Fear built up inside of him. Where was he going with this? Kuroha was completely unpredictable and sly: a personality Kano was all-too-familiar with, yet still hadn't figured out himself.

"I want to know where your snake is, you dirty rotten liar? You've done a pretty good job at holding him in all these years, but don't you think he deserves a chance to live?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kano spat. He could feel his heart rate picking up, as his fingernails dug into the palms of his clenched fists. He knew exactly what Kuroha meant.

All those years, he'd heard an insistent voice in the back of his mind, begging him to keep on lying, keep on deceiving, keep on hurting more and more of those he loved. It told him he wasn't good enough, and that he'd always be garbage in everyone's eyes.

It said his mother should have lived instead of him.

And all those ten hellish years he tried to ignore that voice. To force it away, though each time it spoke, it spoke with more force and more control. The voice - that snake's voice - wanted to claim Kano for himself. It wanted to live the life that Kano didn't truly deserve.

But it wanted more than that. Kano knew the snake's deepest desire was all-to-similar to Kuroha's.

Death. Destruction. Misery.

A tragedy.

"You're more transparent than I thought!" A psychotic grin spread across Kuroha's face as he grabbed a fistful of Kano's hair and yanked the boy up, forcing him to meet his gaze. "It's right you know. The snake, I mean. Why do you think you haven't been rescued yet? It's because the Dan doesn't care about you."

"Saying that the Mekakushi Dan would leave me behind," Kano hissed, "Makes you a bigger liar than me."

"Oh, but they already have." Kuroha's sadistic smile still played on his lips as he said, "You do realize their powers enable them to save you. Frog-boy could just peek into my head to figure out what I plan on doing next, and then the green-haired girl who you so deeply care about would be able to sneak in and attack me undetected. But they don't."

"You don't know anything about my friends." Kano knew this was all part of Kuroha's plan. He was trying to get under his skin and provoke him for who-knows-what reason. ...But a small part of him realized how true Kuroha's statement was. If all eight of the Dan worked together, they wouldn't have much trouble saving him, right?

Maybe they really didn't care. Maybe he was always an unwanted burden - more trouble than he was worth. Kano wouldn't blame them. All he did was upset other people and pile on lie after lie after lie. The Kano they knew was barely the person he truly was anyway; why would they want him after all?

"I know they hate you," Kuroha murmured in Kano's ear. "In fact, they're glad you're gone, and they don't care where you are. Maybe I would be paying them a favor if I just killed you right here and now!"

His hand made his way to the gun in his belt, almost twitching in anticipation to pull the trigger, but he abruptly froze and dropped his wrist to his side. "No, it's too dull to end it here. It's so much more pleasing to watch you suffer."

Kano knew he shouldn't let Kuroha's words get to him, but the way Kuroha spoke made it all seem so undeniably true. The blonde's lip quivered as tears stung his eyes, but his irises quickly flashed a bright red, making the deceiver look completely composed and emotionless.

In an instant, Kuroha raised his hand and slapped Kano hard across the face. He let out a chuckle as his victim hit the ground and whimpered.

"I know your powers can't resist pain. I'm sure you don't want me to inflict further damage, hm?"

Tears began to splash on the cold floor, dripping down Kano's face as his body shook. He wanted to curl up into a ball and hide his pained expression, but the snakes restrained all movement and left him exposed for Kuroha to toy with.

"I wish you could see how pathetic you are right now. You're sniffling and crying like a baby, incapable of doing anything."

Almost in perfect unison, Kano could hear his snake;s voice echoing throughout his head, voice growing louder and louder with each second. "...like a baby incapable of doing anything. I'll make you better than you could ever dream to be, Shuuya. Let me come out and show this snake how strong you are. I can make everything better. I can make your friends love you again. Don't repress me; accept me and let me live."

"I want to talk to the real you," Kuroha coaxed. His face was eager with anticipation as he cupped Kano's face in his hands and leaned close. "Now it's your turn to come out."

Kano looked absolutely hopeless for a moment. Then he began screaming.

There are no words to describe what he sounded like in that moment. It was as if he was a helpless child about to be killed making a vain attempt to be saved from his agony.

Kano's body stiffened as he threw his head back, golden irises staining a bright crimson. Sheer hatred billowed inside of him. All directed towards him, he felt hatred from strangers, friends, family, and most of all himself.

It all crashed down on him at once.

Kuroha ran his hands down Kano's arms, talking over the screams as if he heard nothing. "You're so broken, but what can I do? It's a hefty price I'm willing to pay for a monster like you.

"Listen to me. They don't understand you, and they never bother to understand you. I know exactly why you always have a front; why bother when they can't comprehend?"

With those words, Kano's pained cry abruptly cut off. His body slumped down into Kuroha's arms, completely limp

"Passing out on me when the fun is just beginning?"

Another eerie silence befell the room as Kuroha knelt there with the boy. He began to lay Kano on the floor again, but somehow the blonde jerked awake. He immediately spoke as if he hadn't been unconscious at all.

"I'm going to make them understand me. "I'm going to make them see who Kano Shuuya has truly been all these years."

Another eerie silence befell the room as Kuroha knelt there with the boy. He began to lay Kano on the floor again, but somehow the blonde jerked awake, immediately speaking as if he hadn't been unconscious at all.

"I'm going to make them understand me. "I'm going to make them see who Kano Shuuya has truly been all these years."


	2. Chapter 2

"Kano! …KANO!"

Seto's voice was completely hoarse from screaming his name over and over, but we were all becoming desperate. We had been searching eight hours for Kano and covered miles of area surrounding the base, but there was no trace of him.

I gently placed my hand on Seto's shoulder and forced a smile as he turned around to face me. "Don't push yourself too hard. We've been out for a while, and we're probably all tired."

"But Kido, we can't leave without Kano."

"Don't worry about that idiot," I huffed. "He's probably perfectly fine right now, sitting somewhere with Konoha without a care in the world, and when we show up looking all disheveled, he's not going to be able to control his laughter."

"Um, Danchou?" Kisaragi cut in. "I know that Kano jokes around and stuff, but I don't think he's the kind of person to leave the Dan for eight hours without contact. He has _some_ sort of conscience."

"Well then what do you propose? Where do you think he is?" I retorted, folding my arms over my chest.

"At this point," Seto quietly began, "We need to at least consider that he could be in-"

Kisaragi jumped, startled by her cell phone suddenly buzzing. She fished it out of her pocket to reveal Ene on the screen.

"Oh, there you are, Ene. Did he…?"

"Again, he didn't pick up. I've called him at least ten times, and each one has gone to his voicemail. His phone's either turned off, or he doesn't have it with him, but either way, I don't think Kano's going to answer."

"That moron!" I guess I spoke a little louder than intended, because everyone in the group immediately turned to look at me. The feeling of being the center of attention was way too uncomfortable for me to handle (I had no idea how Kisaragi got through every day.) and I was tempted to just vanish.

"Let's backtrack," Kisaragi offered, holding the phone out so Ene could participate in the conversation. "This morning, Kano talked with Hibiya about that white-haired boy that was always after him, and Kano suspected that he had eye powers like us.

"He said he was going to go recruit him and left the house. Then a few hours passed and Kano hadn't returned, so we called him on his cell phone. When he didn't pick up after a few calls, that's when we started to get worried. About an hour later we all got up and started looking for him, and we've been out here ever since."

I wanted to slam my head into a wall. _Why didn't we send anyone out with him?_

I glanced down at the phone. The flashing time read 2:34. It was hard for me to keep my thoughts in order when my body was begging me to drop to the ground and fall asleep. All of us were completely and utterly exhausted, but more than anything we were becoming more and more frantic with each passing minute.

"Danchou?" Mary yawned, stretching her arms from where she was slumped against a tree. She had been so quiet all this time, I'd almost forgotten she was there in the first place. "I'm tired."

Hibiya sat next to her with a dazed expression, as if he could pass out any second. I didn't want to push the other Dan members beyond their limits; that wasn't what a good leader did.

Besides, I didn't care how late I had to stay up or how tired I got. I would find Kano.

"You two should go home," I said. Both nodded and slowly got up.

"Make sure you're always together, and try to stay alert. I can't lose any more of you guys."

With Hibiya's clairvoyance ability and Mary's eye-locking ability, Hibiya should be able to spot anyone approaching them, should they be attacked for whatever reason, and Mary would be able to freeze them and escape. It's not that I expected the two to get attacked, but considering the circumstances, I wanted them to be prepared.

"Seto, you're not coming?" Mary sounded extremely distressed.

"Don't worry, Mary. I'll be back soon," Seto replied, pulling the white-haired girl into a hug. "But right now I have to find my brother."

Mary was a bit reluctant to withdraw from the hug, but after Hibiya loudly cleared his throat, she gave one last look at Seto and disappeared into the distance with the younger boy.

"We better keep looking," I said. "There's still a lot more area we have to cover."

The remaining group members nodded in response, and Kisaragi knelt down to shake her sleeping brother, who had apparently dozed off while we were stopped to talk.

"Onii-chan!" she whined, but Shintaro was out. The idol turned around to see our reactions, clearly a bit embarrassed by her NEET older brother.

"I'll handle it," Ene said. "Just plug his earbuds into his phone, and then put them in his ears."

Kisaragi nodded in compliance and did what she was told. Moments later, Ene screamed "MASTER!" so loud we could hear her outside of his earbuds.

Shintaro jolted awake with a screech, chucking his phone to the side and breathing heavily. His gray eyes circled around and fell on each of us before landing on his phone and narrowing. Ene was laughing hysterically, doubled over clutching her stomach, and pounding her fist against the ground.

"You know, Master, I thought all that soda was supposed to keep you awake!" She was barely able to finish sentence before she started laughing even harder.

Underneath my red jacket, I found myself lightly snickering. So was everyone else - especially Momo. _I'm glad Ene can bring us a little laughter when we really need it. _

Shintaro let out an exasperated yell. "Agh, Ene! Did you have to be so loud! You scared the ever living crap out of me!"

A dangerous grin flickered on Ene's lips. "Don't tell me Master got so scared he wet himself!"

"ENE YOU KNOW THAT'S-"

Shintaro was cut off by his cell phone suddenly ringing, and everyone immediately held their breaths. He slowly picked his phone up off the ground and read the caller I.D.

I couldn't even choke out a full sentence. "...Who?"

"Kano."

Immediately, I yelled "Pick it up!" Of course, Shintaro had already pressed the talk button and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Guys?" This voice was unmistakably Kano's, but it was very different from his snarky, sarcastic, sing-song tone. He sounded distressed.

"Kano? Where are you?" I cut in.

"Guys, you gotta help me." I could hear his choppy breaths from the other end of the phone. His voice was wavering with each word, like he was about to cry. "He's got me and he's going to kill me."

"Who's got you?" Seto asked. I could see the fear and panic in everyone's eyes.

"I'm under the school. I don't have much time. Oh god, please help me." From the other end, Kano's bursted into tears. I felt like my heart had just been ripped out and torn in half. No, not my brother. Not _Kano_.

"Kano, we're coming for you!" I yelled into the receiver. ...Moments later I realized that the phone had been hung up before he could even hear me.

At once, I took off running. Seto caught up with me pulled ahead. After all the time he spent in here as a kid, he knew these woods like the back of his hand, and he knew exactly how to lead us to the school.

All I could think of was saving my brother. I was angry we hadn't looked at the school; it being summer I hadn't even considered the possibility. I was angry that I hadn't gone with him. But most of all I was angry at the bastard that wanted to hurt him. Kano could drive me crazy, but he'd never do anything that'd be deserving of death.

We were out of the woods now, and despite my aching muscles, I could feel myself moving even faster and faster. _Oh god, Kano, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry._

I almost wanted to break down crying, but I couldn't let emotions get the best of me right now. I could cry after he was safe and the sicko threatening him was nine feet underground.

"There's the school!" Kisaragi yelled. I shoved through the front door and was suddenly flying down the stairs. I had never really explored below the school (I mean, I had no reason to), but it seemed that the path down there only lead one way, so we had to be going in the right direction.

We went through room after room after room, my heart racing faster and faster the further we went. My hands shook in anticipation; it was so bad I couldn't even open the doors myself anymore.

After what had seemed like an eternity of empty rooms, I saw him.

Kano was sobbing hysterically, kneeling in front of a boy clad in black.

A gun was pressed to the side of his head.

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><p><strong>I was determined to finish this chapter by today because I always abandon fanfictions, and I refuse to abandon this one.<strong>

**Time to go watch Free!, Tokyo Ghoul, and Magi haha~**


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